Everyone knows the Grand Canyon is vast, but few know its nature and particulars as well as Richard Kempa.

Kempa, 56, a resident of Rock Springs, Wyo., will share that knowledge during a slide show, reading and talk on the Grand Canyon at 7 p.m. Monday, July 2, at Norwalk Public Library.

He is on the East Coast to visit relatives, several of whom live in Norwalk.

"That's my center of gravity," Kempa said of the 1.2 million acres in Arizona. "It's a vast wilderness and there are so many places to go; more than any one person can go to in a lifetime.

"I want to give people a vicarious experience of one of the great wonders of the world. Of the 4.5 million people a year who visit the canyon, over 95 percent view it from the rim."

Kempa has not only hiked the canyon several dozen times since 1974, he's also written about the canyon, photographed it, and is currently editing two anthologies about it -- one of poems, the other featuring essays by people who have hiked the canyon.

Kempa said his hikes in the canyon are "never routine" and that he typically stays off its two main trails. He said he always descends into the canyon on foot and can reach the river and the wilderness after "a good, hard day's walk."

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"Some trails are six to seven miles, almost straight down or straight up. Some work their way down, up to 12 miles, to the river," Kempa said.

Experiencing the canyon at ground level is much different from taking it in from the rim, Kempa said.

"Our senses are not built to comprehend something so vast. We lose proportion from the rim. ... There's no sense of perspective or the true size of things," he said. "The river looks like something you can step across, a rock looks as big as a car.

"The canyon is one of those places that tricks you. It's bigger than it seems, but I'll try to show some of the close-up, intimate views."

Kempa said the canyon has mountain lions, snakes, big-horned sheep, a lot of birds and various creatures by the water that come out at dawn and dusk. But, he said, the snakes "don't mean any harm" and the mountain lions "never attack people; they're doing their thing.

"I've always felt one of the safest places to be is in the wilderness, if one is prepared and alert."

The canyon is "wide open" between the rim and the river, and hikers normally don't see people until they get to the river and spot them on rafts, Kempa said.

Kempa said he usually takes a backpack with 12 to 15 pounds of water, freeze-dried food and food high in carbohydrates when he hikes. He said hikers shouldn't drink from the Colorado River unless they purify the water beforehand.

Many of Kempa's hikes have lasted five to six days, while he spent as many as 12 days on hikes in the canyon when he was younger.

Kempa became interested in the Grand Canyon after his first hike as a teenager, when he said he discovered "an entirely new world."

"It was a mind-bending experience," he said. "Whatever expectations people have about the canyon, or any place, they're always different from reality, and I was hooked."

Kempa said he'll tell the story at Monday's event of what it was like to cross the Colorado River, which divides the canyon in half, with his brother, something he described as "a foolish idea" undertaken by "young, immortal teenagers." He said the river's width varies, but can be up to 500 feet in some spots, depending on the season, and that it "always has a good flow."

Kempa said he appreciates reading other people's impressions of the canyon and that he is enjoying editing books of other hikers' poems and essays about it.

"Everyone's got their own way of seeing the world, their own perceptions and ways of translating the world," he said. "Wherever we are in the world, we bring our own mindsets ... and the canyon work I've been reading is no exception."

Kempa said he most appreciates the "clarity" of the canyon.

"Unlike forests and lush life zones in the Northeast ... the lines are drawn more clearly in any desert," he said. "The sense of clarity that one gets in a place where life is at a premium is part of it and the space ... the openness is something all Westerners will speak of. You're not hemmed in by thick forests and skyscrapers."

Kempa's presentation, entitled "Beneath the Rim: Stories and Pictures from Inside the Grand Canyon," will last about an hour and he'll answer questions afterward. He said he's not necessarily trying to inspire people to hike in the canyon and discover it for themselves.

"It's not my goal, but we are quick to be inspired by beauty," he said. "The presentation cracks the plane between the rim and the space beyond."

Two books will be on sale at the July 2 event -- "Keeping the Quiet," a book of Kempa's poems that was published in 2008, and "What the Canyon Teaches," a poetry broadside that was published in 2011. Each book is priced at $15.